The Senate on Sunday night cleared a food safety package, curbing earlier fears the popular bill would die by the end of this session as a result of a procedural error by upper chamber lawmakers.

Aides close to the bill expect it to return to the House this week and that the overhaul of a nearly-century-old regulatory system finally will find its way to the president's desk after a circuitous and frustrating go-around the Capitol.

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POLITICO 44

The Senate first passed the food safety bill on an overwhelming bipartisan vote at the end of November, but the effort was voided after it was revealed the bill included several tax-related provisions that had to originate from the lower chamber. The House then included the language of the food safety legislation in its version of the continuing resolution to avoid government shutdown.

Fearful that top Senate negotiators would remove the food safety language from the overall spending bill to pass the budget measure before Christmas, supporters of the legislation found a shell bill that originated from the House to use as the vehicle for the food safety bill and return it to the lower chamber — therefore eliminating the original constitutional constraint.

"Tonight we unanimously passed a measure to improve on our current food safety system by giving the FDA the resources it needs to keep up with advances in food production and marketing, without unduly burdening farmers and food producers,” Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement after the measure was approved by unanimous consent.

"Families in Nevada and across America should never have to worry about whether the food they put on their table is safe. This is a common-sense issue with broad bipartisan support."

With final passage of the bill this expected week, Democrats add another check on a wish list of items they sought to clear during a busy lame-duck session, including a high-profile compromise on taxes and a repeal of the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy.

The food safety bill boosts the power of the Food and Drug Administration, giving the agency the authority to issue its own recalls over contaminated products, as well as increased access to manufacturer records in the case of emergencies. The legislation also enables third-party testing to ensure that FDA-regulated products meet the standards set by the agency.

The Senate faced increased pressure to move the bill this summer in the wake of a massive recall of more than a half billion eggs that sickened thousands of Americans and Reid had made it a campaign issue in Nevada, where the legislation enjoyed significant support. The House had approved its version of the original bill in July 2009.

“It is a major step toward improving how the U.S. Food and Drug Administration protects people from preventable illnesses that sicken millions and kill thousands of Americans every year,” said Erik Olson, the Pew Health Group’s director of food and consumer product safety, when the legislation cleared the Senate last month. “It is our hope that this legislation is brought to the president’s desk as soon as possible.”

the noose around the necks of the american people is tightening....we need to send these nasty traitor politicians packing in 2012......read the food "saftey" bill. try to buy seeds, freeze dried food for emergencies with a credit card......people, if they control your food..........they are your master.

Good thing we got this through before Repubs take control of the House. Regulating our food so that salamonella and e-coli outbreaks can be traced as soon as possible is anti-business according to GOP. Protect the wealthy, the rest of us are on our own.

Republicans will vote for the food safety bill because their wealthy masters don't want to have to hire private food quality assurance people to test the safety of their foods before they eat them. Let the right-wing hoi polloi believe all salmonella and mad cow disease are government conspiracies if they want, but the rich know there are dangers in corporate-processed foods, because as corporate masters themselves, they know all the corners they have cut to get that extra profit.

This bill may include some measures that may provide better food safety provisions, but, is it funded, who will manage it, who will decide what is enacted and what isn't, and most important, who is responsible for oversight to insure that those having the power to manage this bill and the hidden agenda within do not overstep the "plain English" intent of the bill.

The potential demise of the family farm and the nearly dictatorial clout that corporate farms could gain from passage of this bill make me shudder to think about. Add to this worries about the inclusion of U.N. food guidelines and passage of this bill will put a hurting on the wallets of Americans at the grocery store and in other areas such as fuel and clothing.

Already it is against the law to slander such things as green beans. Does this sound a whole lot like government overstepping the powers granted it by the Constitution. Where does the word "limited" fit into the picture here?

How about corporate agricultural entities dictating to families what they can grow or raise at home in their pasture and/or garden plots for their own use? Does this scare you at all?

This whole idea should scare you out of your wits! If this should happen your freedom has just had a serious chunk taken out of it and your ability to provide for your family taken out of your hands.

I sure don't want any part of such a thing and I will do all I can to insure that it doesn't. Balls on food safety if it means giving up my freedom to get it. Our food is pretty darn safe the way things are. When something bad happens in food production the current system finds it and gets the problem reversed pretty darn quickly.

I say, leave our food and freedom alone. When the government feels it needs to provide for our safety it is thinking more like it wants to because you are not smart enough to do it right yourself. Sounds like progressive/Socialist thinking to me.

This bill may include some measures that may provide better food safety provisions, but, is it funded, who will manage it, who will decide what is enacted and what isn't, and most important, who is responsible for oversight to insure that those having the power to manage this bill and the hidden agenda within do not overstep the "plain English" intent of the bill.

The potential demise of the family farm and the nearly dictatorial clout that corporate farms could gain from passage of this bill make me shudder to think about. Add to this worries about the inclusion of U.N. food guidelines and passage of this bill will put a hurting on the wallets of Americans at the grocery store and in other areas such as fuel and clothing.

Already it is against the law to slander such things as green beans. Does this sound a whole lot like government overstepping the powers granted it by the Constitution. Where does the word "limited" fit into the picture here?

How about corporate agricultural entities dictating to families what they can grow or raise at home in their pasture and/or garden plots for their own use? Does this scare you at all?

This whole idea should scare you out of your wits! If this should happen your freedom has just had a serious chunk taken out of it and your ability to provide for your family taken out of your hands.

I sure don't want any part of such a thing and I will do all I can to insure that it doesn't. Balls on food safety if it means giving up my freedom to get it. Our food is pretty darn safe the way things are. When something bad happens in food production the current system finds it and gets the problem reversed pretty darn quickly.

I say, leave our food and freedom alone. When the government feels it needs to provide for our safety it is thinking more like it wants to because you are not smart enough to do it right yourself. Sounds like progressive/Socialist thinking to me.

So what they are saying is the FDA didn't do its job in the first place and now that organic food, non GM toxic waste, is a threat and they must now regulate (or put in jail, fine enough to get rid of the small farmer) the back yard garden. Read it, you can't grow, share your own food. You also put yourself in jeopardy of "patent infringement" suit by the big pharms.

While it sounds like the government is taking action, why didn't the FDA do its job? And why are your gardens included? Why more legistlation on top of legistlation?

The illnesses? Hah, they already know the producers.

While I hate to stand up for illegals, some of the jobs Americans won't do is in some of these industries.

Look at some of the "food" documentaries--caution, don't eat before you view them. You can download these on Netflix.

Terrible, terrible thing they are doing to the citzenry. Dem or repub, we all eat.

Another crap sandwich piece of legislation. FDA gets bloated and small farmers get screwed. Don't share your tomatos with your neighbors! Just shows you how spineless politicians really are playing off the public's fears. Wait 'til the next outbreak of food poisoning occurs and see where this great piece of legislation failed to prevent it. As usual, government colludes and protects the large agra corporations against the smaller, family run farms. Disgusting.

For thousands of years, mankind ate food (which represents the body of Christ) without any kind of inspection. Salmonilla and other food born illnesses are of this Earth, just as the wind, rain and snow are. Supressing our ability to ingest contaminated food is supressing His will, as they are of the Earth He created.

Praise the Lord.

And Jesus said unto them ... , "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to younder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you."Romans 1:17

Store up that food like Joseph did in Egypt in the book of Genesis. The food is given by God and is not to be regulated by the government except how Joseph did so people could be kept alive. And is not really about food safety at all but about control over the American peoples food supply. So farmers and gardners grow that food and store it up for those who need it and forget about there money for not growing crops which will also cost us less money. Psalm 2 , Revelation 13 , Romans 10:9-13. In the Holy Bible , God's preserved word. Sincerely ;

Salmonilla and other food born illnesses are of this Earth, just as the wind, rain and snow are. Supressing our ability to ingest contaminated food is supressing His will, as they are of the Earth He created.

That's a truly retarded comment! I don't think God intended for us to commit suicide!

Animals who live the way God intended, do not get salmonilla! Fruits and vegetables grown the way God intended, do not have food born illnesses! People who eat food and meat grown the way God intended, don't get sick, don't get fat, and don't die prematurely!

Salmonilla and other food born illnesses are caused by factory farms that use toxic, petroleum based fertilizers, toxic growth hormones, toxic antibiotics, and toxic GMO seeds. God has nothing to do with it!

Is the rumor I hear true that this bill makes it illegal for a mother to breast feed her new born child because her milk is not pasteurized? Is the rumor I hear true that this bill makes it illegal to store a can of wheat, or a can of rice, or a can of nuts because these are seeds and this bill makes it illegal to 'hoard seeds'? If I grow tomatoes or peppers or oranges in my backyard and give some away to family, friends or neighbors, will that also be against this law?

What really should be against the law is the growing of food that has been genetically modified to produce a toxic poison. I cannot eat Bt-corn, Bt-soy, Bt-cotton-seed, Bt-canola, Bt-canola, or Bt-sugar-beats or anything made from them because I cannot handle the Bt-toxin. The worst thing about this bill is giving control of seeds to a corporation that wants to eliminate organic food. These same genetically modified seeds are also designed to withstand large amounts of herbicide. Glyphosate and glufosinate are bad enough, but where these have become ineffective, 2,4D is sometimes being used. [active agent in Agent Orange] 2,4D and mercury are the last things I would want in my food.

The first version of the Senate Food Safety Bill fortunately exempted small organic farmers from excessive regulation. I hope this version did also.

The first version of the Senate Food Safety Bill fortunately exempted small organic farmers from excessive regulation. I hope this version did also.

I hope so, too Everyone is my neighborhood is very willing to eat the heiroom veggies that I give them, grown organically. They tell me it tastes like food they ate when growing up. Store food tastes like cardboard by comparison. Monsanto intends to be the only big distributor of seeds, and they will be GM (genetically modified), which means they are loaded with chemicals, and they are sterile, which means the seeds cannot be saved from one season to the next. These GM seeds are already causing starvation in many parts of the third world, because those people cannot afford to buy new seeds every year. New World Order dictate= control the food supply, control the populace. Watch the original "Omen" movies, especially the second one. To see it happening now is scary! Grow your own food if possible!

Is the rumor I hear true that this bill makes it illegal for a mother to breast feed her new born child because her milk is not pasteurized? Is the rumor I hear true that this bill makes it illegal to store a can of wheat, or a can of rice, or a can of nuts because these are seeds and this bill makes it illegal to 'hoard seeds'? If I grow tomatoes or peppers or oranges in my backyard and give some away to family, friends or neighbors, will that also be against this law?